US Dec LDPE exports rose by 5.2% year on year

11 February 2013 22:03[Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--US low density polyethylene (LDPE) exports for December 2012 increased by 5.2% from the same month in 2011, according to data available from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Monday.?xml:namespace>

Exports of LDPE rose to 58,592 tonnes in December 2012 from 55,691 tonnes in 2011.

Canada, Mexico and Brazil purchased the most LDPE from the US, with Canada taking 26% of exports for a total of 15,506 tonnes. Exports decreased to Canada and Mexico, but increased for Brazil.

For the full 2012 year, exports of LDPE increased by 8.8% from the same period in 2011, rising to 685,274 tonnes from 629,985 tonnes in 2011.

US high density polyethylene (HDPE) exports for December decreased by 0.5% from the same month in 2011, falling to 163,449 tonnes from 164,208 tonnes in December 2011.

The top three destinations for US material were Mexico, Canada and Brazil. Mexico boosted its imports of US material to 58,304 tonnes from 48,998 tonnes in December 2011, while Canada imported 22,725 tonnes, down from 24,740 tonnes in December 2011. Brazil saw a slight increase in US imports to 10,187 tonnes from 9,389 tonnes in 2011.

For the full 2012 year, exports of HDPE increased by 2.7% to 1,743,760 tonnes from 1,697,237 tonnes in 2011.

US linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) exports fell by 9.5% year on year in December, falling to 53,438 tonnes in 2012 from 59,026 tonnes in December 2011, according to the ITC.

Mexico, Canada and Singapore were the top destinations for US material, together accounting for 60% of all US exports.

For the full 2012 year, exports of LLDPE increased by 7.2% to 627,710 tonnes from 585,597 tonnes in 2011.